The combination of global navigation systems and handheld device communications has allowed a new generation of tools involving geo-location and wireless communication to be introduced. It is now possible to use a cellular phone to select which taxi you would like to hail, and for the driver of such a taxi to receive your signal within the cabin of the vehicle and then pick you up, such as in U.S. Patent Publication US 2009/0192851 to Bishop. However, such prior art solutions leave room for improvement.
More particularly, such systems typically require a change in customer behavior. However, the process of hailing a cab for the purpose of receiving a ride has been in place for decades and is understood worldwide. One can stand on a street corner in London, Amsterdam, Jerusalem, or New York and stick his hand out to hail a cab. The use of electronic devices, allowing a person to pick a certain cab and hail it via a communications network often is less efficient, not more so. Now, the cab may pass up three potential rides in order to pick up a person who hailed it from blocks away. Such systems also may create unfair advantages for some customers, compared to others, and thus, are forbidden by various taxi and limousine commissions. Cab drivers, in many cities, are not allowed to “skip over” or turn away anyone.
Thus, as seen by the prior art, there is a desire to use technology, such as handheld wireless devices, to propel the state of the art forward and make hailing a cab easier; but what is needed is a way to do so which allows drivers to observe anti-discriminatory regulations while increasing efficiency of the taxi system, so that cab and limousine companies will be enticed to use such systems.